Canadian Federal Election on May 2nd

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Curious....

If you're Canadian, what do you think of the campaign so far? Which party do you usually support? Which party are you supporting this time around? What do you think of the party leaders? What do you think of the possible outcomes?

If you're not Canadian, have you even heard about this election? If so, what's your impression?

Also, just for fun, whether you're Canadian or not, try taking the "Vote Compass" quiz at CBC.ca to see the party whose views most closely resemble your own. (If you're not familiar with Canada, some of the questions may not make much sense, but give it a shot anyhow, just for fun.)

ObDisclosure: I'm a Canadian, living and working in the US for the last 2.5 years. Card-carrying member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) for decades. Voted for them this time around (mailed my "special ballot" last week). Excited that the polls show the NDP in an unprecedented second place to the governing Conservatives!

For a 'Conservative' Party, Harper's CCRAP party sure wants to institute radical changes into our country- no thanks, if he wants his way he can go live in Missouri with his little kitten for all I care
I have seen some projections that put the Bloc as really almost getting the boot from parliament- By Poseidon's Trident, that is music to my ears

Vote: Shape Your World! topic

+1

My voting choice is PRIVATE.

The survey claims that I am more socially liberal and slightly to the left of the Conservative Party but the other parties are too far to the left.

If I lived in Canada I'm not sure I'd bother voting.

A lot of people thought the turnout for this election would be like the turnout for the 2008 election, i.e. lowest in history. That's partly because a lot of people though this election would have similar results (Cons with a majority, Libs in second, BQ and NDP filling out the House) as in 2008.

However, the surge of the NDP to second place nationally and first place in Quebec has galvanized a lot of people. Turnout at advance polls was about 34% higher than last time around. A lot of people who wouldn't normally vote for the NDP, or who wouldn't normally vote period, are seriously talking about giving the NDP a chance.

So the results on Monday night might be very, very interesting.

Likewise, I didn't vote on the poll. I'm more than willing to criticize the CCRAP party though

A Canadian photographer friend of mine (who says he'd vote UKIP if he lived in Britain) says he's not bothering voting either as all the parties (apart from the Conservatives) are leftist.

The survey recommended that I would be a Conservative voter in Canada but I'm not sure about that. I've never voted Conservative in Britain, although the area in which I live is extremely strongly Conservative.

I am a Liberal. A somewhat dyed-in-the-wool Liberal, at that.

My riding has a Liberal incumbent who appears to be polling ahead of a strong NDP candidate. I think we are safe from ticket splitting here, so I am not inclined to second guess my natural inclination. (Though I was in a different riding last time around, and I certainly took a different view, then).

There doesn't seem to be a 'real' conservative party here IMO. I don't consider a party that wants to make radical changes 'conservative'. I more or less think of it as the Yankee Party, It would be nice if there was a conservative party that didn't have to reflect these sort of values. There used to be two conservative parties (Progressive Conservatives and Reform) but they merged about 10 years ago into the 'Canadian Conservative-Reform Alliance Party (CCRAP- I kid you not. ).

Since then they've changed their name but I'm not keen to let that one go- if they are blind enough to not notice that their abbreviation = CCRAP how can you trust them to do anything?

The Bloc Quebecois is like a festering sore. It shames my province with its xenophobia and shames our country for allowing this kind of thing to go on. They have no respect for the hundreds of thousands of Anglos living here, they're doing their best to disenfranchise us and make us leave. I speak French, and I'm stubborn, so I'm going to keep spitting in their face at every opportunity

UKIP is called a conservative party and in some respects it is but it also has some very radical liberal ideas about how the country should be run.

The problem with conservatism is that it's often reflexive - i.e. it automatically wants to conserve everything, without thinking whether it's good or bad or not. Even bad things.

Radicalism is sometimes most certainly needed; and in that case a straight conservative party isn't the answer. It needs to be conservative in intent but radical liberal in deed. What is the phrase? Change is needed so things can stay the same? Or something like that.

Are the BQ a bit like Québec's version of the BNP at the moment?

I don't really know enough about the BNP to make a fair comparison. But the BQ has had a lot of power over this province in the past. They enforce a lot of garbage and unnecessary protectionary language laws. Its really draconian in nature. I have lost a job before because of the Language Cops. But I'm pretty sure the BQ is leftist in its leanings. It is very nationalist, that's for certain, and it supports revisionist history- they have pretty much glossed over the October Crisis and a lot of BQ supporters seem to think the FLQ terrorists were heroic, even though they were basically murderers... I work as a history tutor sometimes, and I have had issues with certain high school administrations because their history teachers are teaching the plotline of a pro-FLQ movie (fictional plot...) as actual history. This led my subjects to lose marks in certain exams that involved questions on the subject because they were taught blatant lies

They also tend to ignore the magnanimous way that the British government treated Quebec following the Quebec Act of 1774- this was actually one of the push factors that led the Americans to rebel, the treatment that Quebec was getting. One thing they try and profit off of is the unfairness that a lot of Quebecois received at the hands of English business owners in the past, especially in the 40s and 50s. They neglect to mention that it was Maurice Duplessis who invited this kind of thing, and he was Quebecois and Catholic to the core. Even the 'Quiet Revolution' that Quebecois are so proud of, they try and take credit for, despite the fact that it came in under the encouragement of the Quebec Liberal Party... They also try and paint a false class struggle, when in reality it is English people (and other minorities) who make less money and have less job opportunities. There was a law put in place that stipulates regardless of credentials, a Quebecois must be hired over an English person. Needless to say its hard for me to get a job as there is a lot of prejudice, even though I speak pretty good French, and can understand French fluently. The only bonus to living here is the low tuition cost. Once I'm done uni I'm out of here probably though. As stubborn as I am, I need to eat

They sound like the more extreme Scottish nationalists then and not quite like the SNP who are the governing party in Scotland, are centre-left and call for Scottish independence while fully integrating into the EU (eh?).

The more extreme Scottish nationalists often indulge in hating the English.

Let me say this is one of the stupidest ads I'v ever seen. Aside from being feckless (really, could they crame anything more at ultra-high speeds into the ad), it is horribly conscending and contradictory ("inexperienced team", "career politician").

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV37nQyzqKA[/youtube]

Sound like Liberals have been inspired by Conservatives for publicity.

LOL wow
I'm surprised that is a Liberal ad, that is much more akin to the cheap attack ads that the CCRAPers have been putting out
And they talk about inexperience while Jack Layton is acknowledged to have been a politician for a long period of time? Its like criticizing the party because they are capable of having confidence in their leadership- something the Conservatives & Liberals don't seem to have

How about this real nugget?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-QSgRfjBDs[/youtube]